Soybomb Kitchen pt.6

 It took a great team of friends to help me move all of them into place.

 It would have been nice to have this joint go into the corner, but then it wouldn't have been a perfect 45, and i think that would have looked weirder.  To be honest this is the first time I've noticed this in 2 years, so i think we made the right choice.

There was a helluva lot of caulking to do with this installation!

 I remember the excitement of putting all of this together.  From concept to execution this is one of my most favorite projects ever.

 love those lines

 I had forgotten that the one sill had to have a hole molded in it to line up with the one in the sink-counter so as to accommodate the mast that the faucet would secure to for stability.  This was a more complex project than i had remembered! (maybe i blocked it out)

 soon to be formerly-ugly fridge!

Soybomb Kitchen pt.5

in retrospect... the sills probably didn't need to be so thick... and could have been a perfect "L" shape.  But there is something so so satisfying about a massive chunk of concrete.
this is during the polishing process. very messy!

 this piece is actually quite complicated.  good thing i'm all right at math!

 integral dish rack drain.  i had a lot of frustrated fun designing and building this piece.

the lines on this piece always draw my attention and I would LOVE to someday do a stand-alone island with similar elements.

 the closer hole is for the large spray faucet.  The second and further is for the supporting dowel.  the spray faucet is designed to be supported int a wall at some point along it's height.  since this will be up against the kitchen window, a different mechanism had to be created.
Always plan ahead!

 Not properly vibrated concrete.   It was a thicker mix, and thus probably a lot stronger. It also meant it was harder to settle into voids and allow allow air-bubbles to pass through. While not appealing at first, this allows for more cement "fines" to be added in a darker tone during the polishing process.  the end product being a more varied natural stone look.

 love those lines!

I have since developed a MUCH tidier setup for polishing. Hind sight is 20/20!

Soybomb Kitchen pt.4

 slab

 the slab of granite i had procured a couple years prior to this and had organically intended to make a shelf for in the shower with it.  We had decided a few months before the pour that it would be a good idea to include it in the design.  But so much time had passed, and we had been so busy that when we poured, we looked at and marveled at our nice big slab... and thought, "Hey! weren't we going to put that piece of granite in here?".  Which sent us into a frantic search for the piece and to set it in before the concrete set up too much!

 seems like a carrot cutting drag strip!

 coming together piece by piece.

 those spreader clamps would remain in place for a couple weeks.  concrete takes about 28 days of curing to reach 80% of its full strength.

These are the theater push-pins letters that get destroyed later in the hollowing process.

Soybomb Kitchen pt.3

 I LOVE the smell of fresh concrete in the morning!

not actually the freshly poured. but the freshly curing.

 With most of the kitchen taking a very square and symmetrical shape, which is exaggerated in the sharp angles of a large monolithic slab in the center, the broken piece of granite slab set into the one side of the island helped to offset this a little.  while concrete emulates a natural material quite well, i had purposely chosen a darker grey dye, and grey paint, and polished stainless steel for most of the hardware.  It gives the kitchen the feel of a cold stark clinical utility.  But we also recognized the need to offset this.

 We did this with the eventual wooden wall treatment, and by including a slab of granite that has factory square edges on 3 sides to compliment the edges of the island, but has a broken, diminishing edge facing to the center.  It isn't dramatic, but it really does help to take a little of the edge off of the kitchen as a whole.
Granite being denser is also a better surface to cut and work on for food prep, and is resistant to one of concretes little enemies- lemon/lime juice!

 Sills!

 Stovetop knockout slab.

Since the woodwall treatment was to come out from the exterior block wall enough to cover electrical boxes, i thought i would hide a little juvenile artwork there.  My girlfriend's (and co-conspirator's) initials plus mine!

Soybomb Kitchen pt.2

 Not exactly a "before" picture as most of the cabinets are in place, but it shows some of the unfinished state of the kitchen at least.

A panel was cut to a certain size and placed upright on the side of the island to give us a mock-up of the "visual weight" of what the finished island's thickness would look like.  I think this was the size we decided on.

For a first-time concrete-kitchen project, I sure was ambitious.  This is the mold for the sink section of the counter-top being worked out.

 These sections form voids in the concrete that will hold the stainless steel trivets later on.

 That beat up old fridge is the one that actually got the wood veneer treatment.  The wood treatment really was a quick afterthought, and I didn't expect the fantastic results we got.  If i had known i would have gotten a newer fridge to do it to!

 Electrical was ran under the floor to the island.   This switch (later replaced with a dimmer) will control the three halogen lights that float over the island.  it also gives power to the 12 receptacles on the underside of the island edge.  This was done so we could utilize the island for food prep with powered devices, as well as power laptops, phone chargers etc.  Putting electrical into the island was probably one of the best decisions we could have made!

 unlike the counter-top forms, the sill forms are not upside down.  they have a troweled surface that gets polished later.

 The form for the Stove-top section of counter-top.

 sinkmold!

 mostly reinforced, and with knockouts placed for sink faucet.

 because we do not want the forming materials to absorb any moisture after the pour, and thus retard the concretes curing.  the underside of the island mold is a strong plywood, but was painted with multiple coats to waterproof it.

 this old beater fridge was given a stainless steel treatment, with hardware to match the cupboards.

 The front side of the island has these letters, first placed into the mold so the concrete forms around them, and then carefully dremelled out, in order to leave a negative impression in the face of the slab.
It ended up being a rather subtle touch which most people don't even notice.

The letter set was actually an old push-pin set for theaters to display the days shows and times.  I do kind of regret a little, the destroying of these letters to make the mold.

The mold for the island is a pour in place, with the surface requiring a good troweling for a smoothness required prior to polishing.

Soybomb Kitchen pt.1

some parts of my jobs end up being OVER-documented.  Others never get photos because it just never occurs to me.   

mold for right side  counter














there is a roof drain that i didn't want to box in and create some odd symmetry in the kitchen layout, so we molded the counter around it, and painted the pipe to match the cabinets.

the left side counter mold

these two counters were poured first, so i could place them and then do layouts for the remaining 'tops.  the layout for this kitchen was unorthodox for the most part, and required SPOT-ON measurements.

left on top right on bottom, poured in the kitchen they will be placed

^^my helpers!^^